A New Beginning
by Manga-Lover-4-Ever
Summary: What would it be like to be human one second and an animal the next? Scary? Freaky? What do you think? Well 16 year old Sami had to deal with not only that, but also being attacked by an outside force. Why her? What was their plan and why was she needed?
1. Chapter 1: Sixth Sense

Sixth Sense

A storm was coming. I could just tell. A crackle of thunder rumbled through the valley to prove it. As the wind picked up and scattered the leaves in the front lawn, I knew it was time to head inside before I was caught in the rain. I stood up from under the shadow of the oak tree and shoved my hand out of the little cover it gave me.

"Drat." I whispered the word to myself. It was already raining. If the moisture on my hand didn't give it away, the pitter-patter on the leaves above did. I crossed the lawn as fast as my little legs could take me. When I finally reached the front door, it swung open and hit me smack-dab on the face.

"Sami?" a voice of an angel cooed, "are you still out here? Mommy wants you to come inside."

"Alright Raina, thank you." I said pushing the door back slightly. I held my hand over my nose, it was bleeding from the impact, but I couldn't let my baby sister see me bleed. Or cry, even though the water was trying to spill over. I didn't wanna freak her out.

"Your welcome!" she said closing the door without another word. As much as I loved my little sister, she was kinda oblivious to things around her. I was pretty sure I was crying pretty hard now. I could feel the tears rolling down my face, or maybe that was just the loose rain dripping from my hair. I tilted my head straight back, forcing my bloody nose back into my body. I pinched the bridge of my nose and opened the door. I headed straight around the corner to the bathroom, not making eye contact with the people I knew were in the other room staring at me as I walked by. When I finally reached the bathroom, I started cleaning my face immediately with a rag. My face was finally clean when I looked back up at the mirror. My usually emerald eyes were a bit dull today and my light brown hair hung lifeless next to my shoulders. I hadn't been feeling well lately and you could tell from the pale color of my face. The feeling I had was not really a sick feeling, but more of a sixth sense per say. I felt as though something was going to happen to me, not in a bad way really, but more of a change. A big one. I pushed my wet bangs out of my face as I combed through my hair.

"Sami!" I heard my mother call, "phone for you."

"Ok." I said walking out of the bathroom and over to the phone. I picked it up and heard my mom hang up on her end. "Hello?" I asked, not really wanting to talk to anyone.

"Hey Sam-Sam," a familiar voice answered. It was Keily of course, probably wanting to hang out. "Wanna come over and hang with me?" I knew it.

"What time is it?" I asked finally. I just wanted it to be Saturday finally. Today was a hectic Friday at school.

"Um, it's about 10:30. Why? You ok, you sound kinda off…."

"I think I'm actually gonna go to sleep ok." I replied rubbing my eyes.

"Fine," Keily replied with a pouty tone in her voice, "but you better be over here tomorrow morning to watch SonicX with me. Got it?"

"Deal." I said humoring her. I just wanted to sleep." See ya tomorrow." I promised with a yawn.

"Ok." She said and then the line was dead. I hung up the phone, said good night to everyone, and dragged myself up the stairs. I was out before my head even hit the pillow.


	2. Chapter 2: Nightmares

Nightmares

It was always a strange feeling when you realized you were dreaming, but it was always cool to see if you remembered it after you were awake. This dream was the most interesting dream I had had in a long time.

_Sitting under a lonely oak tree in the middle of a field, I felt very alone and abandoned. I picked at the dead grass all around me and just sat there listening to the wind. For some reason I had the strangest urge to get up and run for no reason at all. I disobeyed the commanded thinking how stupid I would look running like a retard around the empty field, by myself._

"_I'll run with ya if ya want." A familiar voice offered. I looked over to the voice. I was surprised to see the exact person I thought it was._

"_Sonic." I whispered, running my fingers nervously across a piece of grass in my hands._

"_Care to join me?" he asked, offering me his hand. I took it without a second thought and before I could blink, we were running together. To my surprise I could keep up with him and before I knew it, I had pasted him all together. Laughing, I turned to face him, but he was gone._

"_Sonic?" I called confused. Behind me I felt the wind come to a stop. "Sonic." I turned, relieved that he didn't leave me, but I was wrong. The eyes that stared back at into mine were not the kind, sweet eyes I had met back at the tree. These eyes were on fire from the inside out. Fueled with anger and pain, they dug into my soul, but they were not the only pain I felt. In one fast movement, his hand was on my rist and my rist was on fire. I could feel my scream build up into my throat. It took all I had to hold it in._

"_You can't escape me," his calm and sure voice purred in my ear, "I have you right where I want you...." I felt his eyes dig deeper into mine and before I could react, he...._

"Sami?" a sweet voice woke me from my nightmare, just in time. I was drenched in cold sweat and breathing hard. I remembered everything that had just happened. I cringed away from the thought of red eyes as I looked at my poor little sister who wore them wet and miserable. I looked at her, puzzled, waiting for an explanation. "I had a bad dream." She sniffed, wiping her aqua eyes with her strawberry blonde curls that hung in her face and down to her jaw.

"Come here sweetie." I said inviting her onto the bed. She crawled up slowly and snuggled up close to me, hoping that I would keep her dreams away and I would, as long as she kept mine away too.


	3. Chapter 3: The Field

Chapter 3:

The Field

For the rest of that night, I was haunted by red eyes. They were horribly terrifying for some reason. I still had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach when I woke up the next morning. My body seemed to be screaming at me; something's going to happen today. Careful not to disturb me sister, who lay sprawl out on my bed; I got up and started to get dressed. I didn't want to get up. I wanted to lie there all day without a care in the world.

"I guess I can do that at Keily's house." I mumbled to myself. The clock read 6:45am as I trotted down stairs. I slipped my shoes on as quietly as possible. Snores shook the house. My dad must have been out cold. I giggled a little and headed to the door.

"Where are you going?" A voice startled me from the dark living room. My head flashed back to my dream and a scream started to build up again in my throat. I took a step back from the room as a light clicked on. It was my brother, lying on the couch in what looked like an uncomfortable position. He was half turned to the side with his legs hanging over. Reminded me a little of a dead spider when they die naturally. Wow… that was a charming thought. "Earth to Sami," He snapped, trying to get my attention, "Gonna answer my question or are you gonna sit there staring at air?"

"Oh sorry." I sighed coming back to reality. For some reason I was getting really distracted lately. Not sure why. "I'm going over to Keily's for a Saturday cartoon fest. Like every Saturday." I shrugged. What else did he want? Wonder if he thought I was sneaking out or something.

"Alright, well just stay out of trouble."

"Says the responsible brother who was out all night." I giggled.

"Hey, me and the guys went to see a few movies. Big deal."

"Alright Andy, no need to get defensive. If you have that attitude, people will think you were up to no good."

"I wasn't though."

"I know you weren't. Look, I got to go. Keily is probably waiting."

"Alright. I'll see you later then." He answered. I nodded and headed out the door.

The cold air was crisp and sharp. There was a light wind blowing as well. The sun was just coming over the mountain to the East.

"Not a cloud in the sky." I whispered, reveling my breath in the cold. Spring made the world seem a bit brighter. I walked over the blacktop of the road and came to a dead stop in front of the field by Keily's house. I had the strangest feeling to go in and run. It hit me then. My dream… it was trying to be real, but the weirdest part was though, I wasn't afraid of it to be. I took a step closer to the field. What did I have to do for it to start? Climb the fence? I started to when I heard a door open.

"Sami! What are you doing?" It was Keily. She had red pajamas on with slippers and a cup of, what I guessed to be hot chocolate.

"Nothing." I replied jumping down. I began to walk over to her house when something in the field caught my eyes. It was black and sat in the middle of everything. I could only see bits of it threw the strands of dead grass. I shifted my position and it was gone. Nothing but wind in its place. My curiosity was blaring in my ears. I **had** to see what that black thing was. "Did you see that Keil?!" I was extremely excited.

"S-see what?" She turned her head to look at me, darting her eyes back and forth from the field to me. Good, she had seen it. So I wasn't completely crazy.

"Let's go check it out." I jumped over the fence and turned waiting for her. She stood staring at me dumbfounded.

"Are you nuts?!" She freaked, slipping her shoes on, "What if it tries to kill us?!"

"I thought you didn't see anything." I chuckled. She caught up and hit me on the head.

"I'm only going because I don't want to you fall and hurt your clumsy self. I saw nothing out here, I'm just humoring you."

"If you say so." I giggled shaking my head. I could feel no fear in my body whatsoever. It was kinda making me nervous, but nothing more. We walked straight over to the spot I had seen all the black. Nothing was there.

"See Sami, it was nothing now let's go back." She turned around and began to walk away.

"Keily, no." I ran around in front of her and she stopped. "I swear I saw something. I know I did. Why don't you believe me? You saw it too!" She said nothing. She was turning white in the face and was just staring behind me. "What are you looking at?" I asked turning slowly around. Keily lifted her finger and pointed to a black creature standing only a few feet away. It lifted its head, reveling one staring red eye that was creepy as all can be. The creature from my nightmare had come to life right in front of me and just as before. I didn't know what to do. "Run." Was the only thing that could escape my lips and that's exactly what Keily and I did.


	4. Chapter 4: Attacked

Attacked

The only thing I could hear was the sound my heart was making in my ears. Was he even following us? I was way too scared to look back and see. My hand was shaking from the death grip I had on Keily's arm and my fingers throbbed in response. I never thought that this could be possible.

"S-Sami…" Keily choked. I couldn't help it anymore, I had to look. I stopped only a few feet from the field entrance and looked over my shoulder. Nothing was there. Nothing at all. The grass swayed like it always did in the wind. Something just didn't feel right though. I knew for a fact that he was there, standing right in the center. Right where we could both see him, but he had now disappeared.

"W-where did he-" I began, but never got to finish.

"Where did who what?" A voice chuckled behind me. I spun around as fast as I could and met the exact red eyes from my dream. The exact same in every way from the inside out.

"Sh-Sh-Shadow…" I stuttered and felt him grip my risk just like my dream. Everything was the same except for something I couldn't have even imagined. The fire I felt in my dream was nothing like the real thing that now burned my flesh. It was like someone had taken the sun out of the sky and stuck it purely onto my skin. The scream I had been saving since my dream last night burst out in a wail as my knees buckled under the pain. My vision was completely black as I tried to pry his hand off to no avail. He chuckled at my attempt. Oh how he must pity such a weak creature like myself, but why was he doing this? Why was I being targeted by Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life form?

"Knock it off!" I heard a thump and his grip loosed just enough for me to pull away. When I could finally see again, I was on the ground face first in the grass. I looked back just enough to see Keily try to attempt an escape but was caught by her ankle the second she lifted her foot to run. Her body fell limp to the ground and she screamed just as I did. Shadow had a bump on his head. Keily must have thrown something at him, maybe a rock? Either way, my heart melted to see my friend in so much pain. What was this mad man doing to us? Shadow looked surprised by her reaction and dropped her foot at the same speed he had picked it up. I could hear him curse under his breath as he looked towards me again. His brow was frowning, but his eyes looked focused on whatever mission he had at hand.

"You," He was in front of me before I could blink, "Don't make this any more difficult than you already have. Because of your idiotic screaming, your little nuisance of an ally decided to step in and now she must share the same fate as your." He shook his head and glared back down at me.

"M-my fate?" My voice continued to shake uncontrollably. I still couldn't believe any of this. Maybe I was still dreaming. Shadow laughed again and I felt my body tense. "What are you planning to do to-"

"I'm not going to do anything." He bluntly stated and looked out at the sky above, "The doctor on the other hand," I felt his gaze return to me from the corner of his eye and a smirk spread across his face, "The doctor has so much he wishes to speak to you about." I felt my heart stop. I knew exactly who he was talking about and that was the last person I wanted to ever see.

"Are you serious?" Keily called as she turned over on her back, "you can't be talking about Dr. Eggman!" Of course Keily was the one to speak my mind for me.

"I suppose you'll have to wait and see." Shadow chuckled.

"No way!" I was on my feet before I could blink. Both Shadow and Keily were surprised to see I had regained my energy so fast. I was a little surprised myself. "There is no way I'm going to see some crazy old doctor who shouldn't even exist!" I could feel myself back up a few steps, but Shadow would have nothing of the sort. All I saw was a flash of black head strait at me, but my body reacted without my knowledge. I had taken a step to the side right before Shadow had grabbed me and watched as he stopped a few feet to my left.

"The doctor will be pleased." He chuckled staring at me over his shoulder from the distance. I felt my feet lift off the ground and suddenly, I was being carried under Shadow's left arm. I couldn't wiggle my way out of his grip as he simply walked over to Keily and lifted her the same way under his right arm. Oh how humiliating.

"I won't go see Eggman! I won't, I won't, I won't!" I wiggled and kicked as Shadow simply laughed.

"You're quite entertaining for a human." He looked down at me again. That was really getting old. I frowned deeply and he laughed again.

"Where exactly are you taking us?" Keily asked as her answer appeared in front of us. A ring of light shot out of the clouds above, as Shadow calmly walked straight into the shinning circle. Gravity seemed to cave in as we stepped inside and began to float up into the air. This reminded me strangely of alien abduction and I wondered if those people felt the same way as I did now. Completely helpless.

"Take one last look humans," Shadow motioned for us to look down at our now disappearing houses, "for this will be the last time you ever see any sign of this pathetic world you call home." I swear I heard my stomach drop down to the ground with a splat. What on beautiful earth was going to happen? They weren't going to destroy this place were they? An even more horrifying thought crossed my mind then. What if they weren't going to destroy this world, but wanted to destroy people on it, starting with Keily and myself. I felt a shiver along my spin as we climbed out of the cloud bank that once hung above our heads.

"Holy cow!" Keily yelped as all I could do was stare breathless at the sight that made my stomach do flip-flops. "That's the-"

"That's the Eggcarrier." I interrupted. Both our mouths hung open as we ventured closer and closer to the flying fortress in the sky. It was hopeless now to fight back. Shadow was just too strong; he had won this round, but definitely not the war. I was going to figure a way out of this for Keily and myself both. I had to fix this, I just had to. I wouldn't allow anymore trouble for us. This all just couldn't be real. This just couldn't be happening.


	5. Chapter 5: Confusion

Confusion

Keily and I were so dumbfounded walking across the Eggcarrier deck with Shadow. He had finally put us down when we reached the ships surface. He knew we wouldn't be stupid enough to jump from this height. I was kind of thinking about it though. Keily noticed me looking down and nudged me, saying with her eyes, don't be stupid. I shrugged and just continued walking. If I knew we'd survive the jump, I'd grab Keily and jump if I had to. Why was I feeling so reckless all of a sudden? Shadow herded Keily and I over to a door and it slid open for us to enter. The room was full of gadgets and complicated looking devices that blinked and changed color. Off against the far wall were many large clear empty capsule pods and across the room hung a huge computer monitor with a key board underneath.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking back at Shadow who had shut and locked the door behind him. I had a very uneasy feeling now, much more then I had before. Something wasn't right in the slightest.

"This looks like a high-tech observatory." Keily pointed out while walking deeper into the room to have a better look.

"An observatory? You mean for studying?" I looked at Shadow again who was walking over to me. He reached out to grab my arm and I flinched away from his touch. "What are you doing?" I asked jerking away, out of his reach. This gave me a bad feeling. I backed up and right into his trap. I had stupidly walked right under one of the open capsule pods and it dropped down, imprisoning me in glass. "What?"

"That was much simpler than I thought it would be." He chuckled and walked over to Keily. She backed up against the other wall, trying to get away from him, but it was meaningless. He grabbed her arm and swung her around so she was in front of him. With one swift movement of his wrist, he pushed her so she was completely under the other capsule as its walls slid down to seal her in. She looked as surprised as I had felt. Shadow really was as strong and as amazing as the videogames and TV shows had said. Maybe even stronger and even more amazing, if that was even possible. "If you'll excuse me ladies," he said turning to face the door again, "I'll only be a second. Please, make yourselves at home." I could hear the smile in his voice as he left.

"He just, he just forced me into this capsule." Keily stood still amazed at what had just happened.

"Well at least he didn't trick you into walking right into it." I stated as I paced the small container floor in circles.

"What do we do Sami?" Keily sat down and tilted her head to look in my direction, "What do you think they're going to do with us?" Her crystal blue eyes reflected fear and worry into mine. I could feel my brow wrinkle and my green eyes focus on nothing as I thought of an answer to her question.

"I honestly don't know." I whispered thinking of all the bad possibilities I just couldn't say to her. The last thing I wanted was to panic her any further. Our attention was taken once the door opened again. Shadow walked in, followed by the inhabitant and creator of this vessel, the evil Dr. Eggman.

"Greetings girls," He chuckled his annoying laugh, "It is such a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I wish we felt the same." The words just seemed to blurt out of my mouth. He looked over to me then and smiled evilly. He spoke as he approached my pod.

"You must be the Sami girl I've heard so much about." I leaned my shoulder against the glass with a smile of my own.

"And if I am?" Where was all my cockiness coming from? He laughed again and continued.

"You are exactly right for this project." He turned to his computer and started typing.

"Excuse me?" I felt my face fall, "What project are you talking about?"

"Shadow," Eggman called and Shadow was next to him in a flash, "Who is this other girl you have brought me?" Shadow looked in Keily's direction and sighed. I could see Keily's red hair stand on end as he answered.

"I had a problem obtaining the girl and mistakenly left a mark on the red head as well."

"You what?" Eggman turned to face Shadow who held his ground calm and collected.

"The task was more difficult than we had suspected."

"How could capturing a little girl be difficult!"

"Because we both know for a fact that this 'little girl' is not normal." Shadow's face was hard and ruthless with his answer. The Dr. simply nodded and sighed.

"Hey!" I called pressing my hands against the glass, "Can you guys just tell us what the heck you're even talking about?" They both looked over at Keily and I. Eggman cleared his throat.

"Perhaps it's time you learnt of your purpose." He was talking directly to me. "You see Samantha, for years I have fought and lost to a curtain blue hedgehog. Whatever my plan, no matter how close I was to success, he would foil my scheme every time!" I still didn't understand where he was coming from.

"But what does that have to do with me?"

"I'm getting to that." He was pacing the floor as he continued, "One day, I was so fed up with it all, that I came up with a brilliant plan! A plan to harness that hedgehogs power and shoot it back at him tenfold! I asked myself what machine I could possibly make to do just that, but then it dawned on me, one of my glorious machines just wouldn't do the trick. Not this time." His glasses flashed up to me as he paced, "Sonic always had a way to destroy all my robots, but when it came to fighting a living creature, he never could bring himself to destroy the other. I only needed a living specimen that wouldn't die so easily. So I consulted with Shadow about the idea and he told me of this dimension and how it was full of humans, the perfect candidates for the experiments I wished to conduct."

"So you're responsible for all the people who have gone missing mysteriously!" Keily interrupted, "You're the reason so many people have suffered the loss of their children!" Eggman nodded.

"Unfortunately they weren't what we were looking for in the slightest." Eggman remarked.

"They didn't even make it past the DNA Infusion Process." Shadow smirked. I just looked at him with the most confused face I could conger up and he just replied with a smile while tapping his wrist with one finger. My wrist? Is that what he meant? I looked down at my arm and pulled the blue sleeve out of the way. A blue mark was beginning to shine on the burn Shadow had caused. I felt my eyes grow wide as I looked back up to meet Shadow's gloating glare. He was happy with what he had done. I took a few deep breaths, trying to find my voice before I could talk.

"How… how is this," I shoved my hand at them and was caught by glass instead, "going to create me into Sonic's death trap?" My voice was beginning to become hysterical as panic finally started setting in.

"I suppose your training will have to commence once your transformation is complete." Eggman turned and walked out the door with an evil, hardy laugh. Shadow stopped to take one look back.

"I have to be honest," He strolled over to my container again, "I'm highly curious to see how or if your power will match mine." Our eyes shared a glare for a moment before I looked away.

"Shadow!" Eggman called and Shadow was at the door again.

"Goodbye girls." He smirked that famous smile again and walked out the door. Ooooo, I really hate him!

Keily and I sat in our pods for the longest time. We were trying to wake up from this bad dream, but no matter what we did, it just wouldn't change our situation.

"Sami I can't believe that I'm not even suppose to be here." Keily finally spoke, breaking the awkward silence left lingering in the room when the door shut. She was looking down at the floor, "I can't help thinking of what would have happened if I just let you go into the field by yourself. It's a scary thought to think."

"FRICK!" I slammed my hands against the glass, "This is my entire fault! I can't fight it anymore! If I would have left my ragging curiosity alone, then we wouldn't be in this mess!" I pounded my fists against the glass again and again. Keily just looked at me, completely helpless as I choked out tears of torturing pain.

"Sami…" She trailed off and looked at the ground again. A mind shattering sound rattled the room then, as Keily and I both stood wide-eyed at the event that had just taken place. The glass around me had shattered into millions of sparkling pieces that fell to the floor. Had I just done that? I looked at my hands slowly as I recapped all the episodes of Sonic X I'd ever watched. Sonic was never able to break out of one of these things by himself. He either had help from a chaos emerald or an outside source, like Tails. So why was I able to break it by just getting angry? "Sami! Wake up!" Keily called, as I snapped back to reality. I hadn't even noticed, but red lights were flashing and alarms were going off. I looked over at Keily who had frantic eyes. She glanced at the door every three seconds waiting for it to open and for Shadow to do us in. I only had one thing I could do. My feet scraped against the floor as I trudged through the broken glass and over to Keily.

"Stand back." I ordered and she did just that. I didn't know how I was going to do this, but I had to try. I punched the glass and bounced back, leaving the container without a scratch. I attacked several times, but had no luck. Now I was pissed.

"Come on Sami! Shadows going to be here any second!" Keily cheered from inside the pod. I snorted, some encouragement that was. This was a lot harder then getting out of my own pod. "Kick it or something!" Keily yelped and I did just that. My foot shot straight through the glass as it shattered, leaving the raw sand all across the floor.

"Come on!" I grabbed Keily's arm and yanked her out the door.

Robots were running in every direction, but I didn't care, we had to get out of here!

"Sami let go!" Keily yanked at my grip as I dragged her down the hallway, "I can run myself! I don't need you dragging me the whole way." I looked back at her 5'3" figure and stuck out my tongue. I warily released my grip and continued to run, looking back every so often to check she was still behind me. With each step I seemed to take, my speed seemed to grow faster and faster, and before I knew it, the world was blurry. I couldn't see a thing, not even my hand in front of my face. Was this an effect of the mark on my rist? What was happening to me? The hallway stretched from, what felt like, each tip of the carrier. I wondered when it would stop and soon enough, I had found my answer. My barreling feet sent me straight into the emergency door at the hallways end. I guess that was one way to stop. A thought crossed my mind then. How could I have forgotten?

"Keily?" I called turning around, but she was nowhere in sight. I looked down the winding hallway as far as I could see and passed every corner, but I still saw no sign of her. I had two choices, go back and look for her, or selfishly walk out this door right now and leave her all alone. I guess that narrowed my choices down, but first I had to make sure this was a safe exit. If I was going to save my friend, I needed an escape route. I cranked the handle on the door and its alarm blared in my ear at first. It slowly mixed into the background noise, along with the alarms that were already going off. The door swung open as the wind forced itself into the hallway, almost knocking me off my feet. I had forgotten that we were already flying in the air. This escape route was out, unless I could find a parachute for Keily and myself. This was not good.

"Sami!" I heard a scream come into range. I turned to see Keily running straight at me. It made me feel both panicked and relived. Relived that she was fine, but panicked when I saw why she was screaming. Shadow was running right behind her, hot on her heels and gaining speed. He had caught us, we were so dead. I braced myself for the worst and was unexpectedly granted so much more. Keily ran straight into me, causing us both to fall out the door and into open air. I griped onto her hand desperately as another scream escaped my lips. We were going to die. I was absolutely positive of it. My body was out of control as I spun down toward the world below. I took a peek back up at the Eggcarrier to see Shadow standing at the door, the wind rushing through his black and red spikes and his hands folded in fists across his chest. Even now, as far down as I was, he made perfect eye contact and I could tell that this wouldn't be the last time we would meet, well, that is if we survived this fall. Hey, at least when I reached the pearly gates of heaven I could say I out smarted a major badass. Yeah, I think that would be worth it. I wonder if you get extra points for something like that…

"You ready Keily!" I looked at her and we both nodded. No matter what happened now, we would be friends for life and beyond. I was sure of it. We both let go of each others hand then and let what wanted to happen, happen. There was no use fighting this fate that was thrown at us. I would surely miss this place. Miss my little sister, my family, my friends, everyone who ever mattered to me. Keily and I would watch over them now. I just wished I had a chance to say that I loved them one last time. Just once more and I could die happy. The ocean below us grew closer and closer with each passing second. Before I knew it, I was lost in its icy waves and I couldn't tell what direction was up. This is it, was all that passed through my mind. This is how it ends.


	6. Chapter 6: Unlikely Vacation

Unlikely Vacation

Had that really just happened? Had any of this just happened or was I seriously dreaming? I couldn't tell. Everything felt numb right now, numb and very, very cold. The only thing I was absolutely sure of was the smell of salt that made my senses cringe. The after life smelt like salt, since when? And why was it so cold? Had I not made it to the other side in one piece? Was I a lost cause now? I felt my body twitch and to my surprise, my eyes actually opened. I lifted my head to take my first look of this new world and froze when I realized that nothing had changed. I was still alive. I was still breathing, thinking, heck I was still living!

"How can this be?" I mumbled to myself, "This isn't humanly possible. Humans can't just fall from the sky like that and live…" I looked up at the sky and saw no trace of the Eggcarrier. Had he given up on me? The thought didn't settle with me quite right… he wouldn't have. Not after all that trouble they went to, to capture Keily and I. Oh crap! Keily! I stood up instantly and spun in a complete 360 degree circle. I must have drifted onto the beach shore, because all I saw was sand everywhere and a small forest behind me. Keily on the other hand was no where to be seen. "Keily!" I called out, hoping she would hear my voice, but I got no response. "Keily? Can you hear me? Say something if your alright?" I called like that for quite a while, but never got a response. Where could my friend be? Hopefully she made it like me. If she hadn't, I shivered at the thought. That wouldn't be possible. We were a team and teams don't give up on each other like that. I sighed; things were looking pretty bleak. Suddenly a strong wind blew behind my back. I turned around and saw nothing, but the bushes swaying with the breeze. "Hello?" I warily called, "Whose there? Keily is that you?" Panic had released itself in my veins. What if I was right? What if Eggman hadn't given up on me and sent Shadow down when we fell? What if I was about to be taken again? I backed up from the forest, but never took my eyes off all its green. My eyes darted back and forth as fast as a snake when striking its prey. I had been prey one too many times today, and I wasn't about to fall victim again. I backed up to the waters edge and bumped into something. I was terrified to turn around. Terrified to move, think, or breath, but when it touched my arm, I leaped forward and was horrified to see the figure of a hedgehog. The flight or fight reaction waging in my head went rabid as the figure reached out to me. I chose fight stupidly and shifted into and awkward battle stance with both arms up in a boxing way and my feet spread apart. Like I was really going to win this, I sighed inside my head and prepared for the worst. When he took a step closer to me I swung my fist at his face, but was caught by his right hand. The adrenaline caused my other hand to fight back as well, which triggered his other hand to catch mine. I was trapped and so screwed now.

"Hey take it easy." A very familiar voice sent my mind into a whirl. I hadn't even confirmed who this person was and here I was throwing punches at him. I felt so stupid when I realized I had made a mistake and felt even stupider when I realized who I was dealing with. This person wasn't even close to who I thought he was. He wasn't Shadow in the slightest, in fact, he was far from it. I lowered my hands back down to my sides with his help and he released his grip warily. I'm sure the last thing he wanted was to be punched in the face by some girl. "Are you alright?" He asked, taking a look into my eyes. His soft and vibrant green looked into mine with concern as he tried to study my expression. Millions of things were running through my head that I was dying to ask him. Where was I? How could all of this be real? What should my next step be? But of course only one thing could come out of my mouth. Just like in my dream last night, the only word I was able to whisper slipped through my teeth.

"Sonic…" He looked intrigued for a moment, but then smirked a sly smiled and nodded.

"Yup, that's me." He said closing his eyes and scratching his pointer finger under his nose. "The one and only Sonic the Hedgehog." I felt my own smile twitch onto my face when I realized I was actually safe for the time being. I had no idea what to say to him though. No idea what to say without looking stupid. I felt like a little girl meeting santa on Christmas Eve, excited and hardly able to contain myself. "So can I ask your name?" he opened one eye to look at me and crossed his hands across his chest, waiting for an answer. I don't think I could have given it to him any faster.

"My name is Sami!" I practically burst with excitement. He chuckled and stuck his hand out for me to shake.

"Pleasure to meet 'cha." I nodded and took grip of his hand.

"The pleasures all mine." Could I have sounded any stupider? He opened his other eye then and smiled a huge smile. If I didn't know any better, you'd come to believe he was enjoying this. I know I was, probably enough for the both of us.

"So what brings ya out to this lonely little beach?" Sonic asked with curiosity touching his eyes. "No one ever comes out here, so I was surprised when I saw ya just standing there. You looked like you needed some help. Am I right?" I nodded and felt so bad for getting excited when I was still in a heap of trouble. "What happened?" He asked catching my eyes with his. He was surprisingly really good at that.

"I'm looking for my friend…" I broke our glance and stared off into the blue ocean tide. Sonic followed my glance and grimaced a little at the sight of water.

"Are they out there?" I could hear the slight disgust in his voice.

"I think she is…" Sonic nodded and took a small step toward the ocean waves. He cupped his hand on his forehead to block the sun and looked out onto the ocean.

"Why would she be out there?" He never took his eyes off the waves as he spoke, but what was I suppose to tell him? Oh yeah my friend Keily and I were captured by both of your evil nemeses and were going to be used for experiments to find a way to destroy you once in for all. Luckily though, we both escaped by jumping off the Eggcarrier and into the blistering cold ocean without parachutes and I lived to tell the tale. Yeah that would go over well. I had to think of a cover story and fast.

"Well we were hanging out when Keily mentioned taking a swim. I thought it was way too cold for that so she decided to go without me. We agreed to meet back at this spot an hour ago, but she hasn't come back yet. I'm pretty worried." I wondered if that seemed reasonable enough… Sonic looked back at me with a hard expression that caught me off guard. His eyes met mine instantly and his brow wrinkled.

"No offence," Sonic started, "but that was really stupid of you to let your friend do something so reckless." Well that was a big smack in the face. "Everyone knows that these waters are fast and strong. You both shouldn't be so careless." I didn't even get a word in edge wise before Sonic pointed something out. "Hey is that her?" I turned in the direction he was facing and saw red and black hair lingering on some drift wood that was coming in with the tide.

"Keily!" I gasped and we both ran over to her. Sonic trudged into the water and carried her out in both of his arms. He laid her on the sand and listened for her heart.

"Well she's ok." Sonic sighed, "Probably just a little shaken up." I nodded and just continued staring at the mess of red and black hair. What I saw before me wasn't Keily, that was a little red fox. A little red fox with black tipped ears, hands, and feet. Of course Sonic wouldn't know that she wasn't Keily, since he had never met her and besides, almost everyone here seemed to be some sort of animal, with the exception of myself at the moment. It was strange though, actually kinda creepy, but the little fox was wearing the exact same cloths as Keily had been wearing when I last saw her. The same black vest and white shirt, tan pants, and opened toed boots. Her hair was even up in a ponytail with a blue hair tie! Just like she always wore! This had to be a joke. Where the heck was the hidden camera? "Sami? Are you ok?" Sonic asked.

"Huh?" I responded, "Oh yeah I'm fine." That felt like the fakest smile ever to touch my face. Sonic and I were both caught off guard by the voice we heard next.

"Sami?" we both looked down at the little fox girl who was staring up at us. "SAMI!" she attacked my face and freaked me out. "Sami oh my gosh I thought I lost you!" she was talking so fast it was hard to understand and I didn't catch much of her babbling, but suddenly she stopped and pushed me back to look at my face. "Oh…" she started, "You're not Sami." She suddenly turned and walked away, leaving me lost and confused.

"W-wait!" I ran to catch up with her. Sonic just stood in the same spot with a very confused look on his face. Kinda like he wanted to say something, but knew he shouldn't get involved. "Hey! Wait!" I caught the fox's arm and she spun to look at me, obviously not interested in what I had to say. "How did you know my name was Sami?" She just shrugged.

"Lucky guess?" Luck couldn't be the answer, that would be just too confusing. "Besides," she brushed off my hand and leaned all her weight onto her back leg, "I think I'd know my human friend when I saw her." What the hell? She was the one claiming I was Sami a second ago!

"My name is Sami though and I am human!" I couldn't help but wave my hands in the air. She was just so frustrating! My answer made her eyebrow rise with suspicion as she looked me up and down and frowned.

"Are you claiming to be her?" I shook my head. I couldn't be, not if I didn't even know this girl.

"No. I don't think…"

"Then sorry crazy chick, but I don't have time to play around. You're not my lost friend, so leave me alone." Was she always this mean to strangers, or did she have some unannounced hate for me? I paused for a moment then frowned.

"Well your not who I'm looking for either, so I guess we're even!" I spun in a circle so my back faced her and crossed my arms. Who did she think she was, telling me who I wasn't when I clearly knew who I was. She didn't even know me so how could she assume!

"So I guess I just found the wrong Sami." I peeked over my shoulder and saw her rub the back of her head. She wore a worried look that matched the soft worry tone of her voice. It seemed to me that our situations were a lot alike. She stared out into the horizon for a few moments. "Who are you looking for?" she turned back suddenly and tried to smile. It was pretty weak and hallow, so she must have been really concerned about her friend.

"I'm looking for my friend Keily…" I don't think I'd even been tackled so hard in my whole life. I was surprisingly on the ground before I could blink. What the heck was going on? She had pushed me into a bush we had been standing close to and sat only a few inches away from me, intensely staring into my eyes. Hers seemed very familiar, but honestly, she was freaking me out at the moment so I didn't care. "What the heck are you…?" I trailed off when a smile crept upon her face. She lurched forward abruptly and wrapped me in a hug.

"I'm so sorry Sami! I didn't even recognize you! What has he done to you? I swear I'll kill him for this, err, I mean I'll try to anyway!" What in bloody hell was she talking about?

"What?" I pushed her back and stared at her confused face. "What are you talking about? I don't even know you!" Her face fell as her brow wrinkled and her hand fisted around the caller of my shirt.

"What do you mean you don't know me?" She yelled directly into my face, "I'm Keily! We've been best friends since, like, 1st grade!" I shook my head, trying to organize all my thoughts.

"You can't be. Keily is human! Just like me!"

"What the heck did you think you were talking to? A stump! I am a human! You're the one who's different!" She really wasn't making any sense.

"I'm human," I pointed to myself, "You're a fox." Her head cocked to the side, like she was dumping out all her old information to make room for the new.

"No I'm not." She laughed. I automatically slapped the palm of my hand to my forehead. She had to be kidding. I guess she had to be Keily, I'd know that laugh anywhere, but how could she have not possibly felt how much shorter she was now, or how she had two fluffy big tails sticking out from behind her? I had to double take the thought. Two tails? I peeked between my fingers at the laughing Keily and confirmed it. They were there alright, she just hadn't noticed them. For a straight "A" student, she sure was clueless sometimes.

"Keily you're a fox!" I grabbed her shoulders and gave her a shake to stop the hysterics. She scowled at me for ruining her fun and simply replied,

"I think you hit the water too hard when you fell Sami. You're not making any sense." She was going to get punched in the face here in a second if she didn't get over herself. She was the one who was passed out on a log, so how would she have known.

"That's it!" I said grabbing her arm and standing up, "Let's go."

"Go where?" She yelped as I dragged her further into the forest.

"To find a mirror or something. You need to see what you look like Keily! I swear you're not human right now." She laughed again.

"Finding a mirror in a forest Sami? Are you completely mental?" I moved my grip of her to the right and smacked her into a tree. Served her right for trying to be a know it all, but the more I thought about this the stupider I felt. She was right, what was I thinking? Getting us lost now wouldn't help anyone. Keily suddenly interrupted my thoughts like always.

"That was Sonic back there wasn't it Sami?" Crap, I had forgotten all about him, how embarrassing.

"Yeah it was. Surprising huh?"

"Not really actually. I mean we already met up with Shadow," I felt myself shiver at the thought of his name, but she continued, "So it was quite likely that we would run into Sonic at some point." I turned by head to look back at her.

"But doesn't that mean we aren't home anymore?" I asked and we both went quite. If we weren't home, then where could we be? Our man made path suddenly opened into a small clearing next to a river. Perfect, I thought. That would be a great place to show Keily her reflection.

"Come here Keily." I walked us both over to the river and pointed at the water, "Take a look." She scowled at me once more before giving in. Her expression was priceless! A mix of confusion, terror, and excitement, but mostly just terror.

"W-what happened to me?" She had the same look in her blue eyes as she did on the Eggcarrier.

"I have no clue." I chuckled while shaking my head, "But honestly, it's kinda funny." She looked up at me slowly and from under her red and black bangs I saw her smile. In one fast movement, she smacked her hand to the back of my head and forced myself to look into the river.

"Not so funny now is it?" I couldn't reply. No words would come out. I just went limp when I saw my reflection. A milk chocolate rodent with blue tipped bangs and emerald green eyes wrinkled her forehead at me. She mimicked me like a mirror as I touched my cheek, mouth, and nose.

"Wha?" I turned to Keily who just nodded.

"I told you Sami, you're not human anymore." She shrugged, "You're a hedgehog now." I felt like I was going to pass out.

"A hedgehog?" I yelped, "How could I be a bloody hedgehog when I'm just a normal human girl? What is going on?" Keily's chuckled directed my pissed off glare back at her. "What's so funny? This is serious!"

"Sami please just relax." She put her hand on my shoulder, "I have a theory of what may be going on." Why was she so calm about this? My gaze softened as I look back down at the water.

"Fine, what is it?" she cleared her throat before speaking.

"Well you remember on the Eggcarrier when Shadow pointed at that mark on your wrist?" I looked down at my, now blue, wrists and saw the blue mark I had noticed earlier. It was shining a brilliant blue now. I nodded and looked back at her to continue her explanation. "Well it had been bothering me and I decided to check my burn while I was lost in that maze of a hallway on the Eggcarrier. Its kinda like yours, but yellow." She pulled down her boot a bit to reveal the gold glowing mark. It had taken the shape of a pair of tails while mine on the other hand looked like a spiky blue ball. "Do they remind you of anyone?" I nodded.

"Yeah, yours looks like Tails' logo, the twin tails and mine looks… kinda like Sonic revving into a ball?"

"Exactly!" She nodded. "So when I found you and realized that you had changed, I automatically remembered your mark and how it reminded me of Sonic. But when you showed me I was a fox with two tails, everything else clicked in my head. Sami don't you see what Shadow has done to us? He's changed us into animals just like Sonic and his friends! This is what he meant by making you into the ultimate weapon against Sonic! He created you into a hedgehog so Eggman could train you to kill Sonic in this form! I'm not exactly sure how they did this transformation, but they did and now here we are." I could feel my head spinning from this explanation.

"Keily that's crazy! How did you figure that all out in your head?" She shrugged.

"I've been thinking a lot since I've changed. Maybe it's the fox in me!" Her smile was a big and proud one. The only fox I knew that was smart was Tails. There had to be more to the story than this. It couldn't be an easy task for Eggman or Shadow to do; turning us into animals must have been hard work with sleepless nights for them to completely figure out the process. My raging curiosity, the exact one that got us into this mess, really wanted to know how they did it.

"Hey Sami!" a voice called back from the beach, "Are you still back there?" It was Sonic. I'm sure he was concerned after seeing me get tackled into a bush.

"Yeah I'm still here," I called, "I'll be right back!" I turned back to Keily then and started dragging her back the way we came. "Come on Keily, we don't wanna keep Sonic waiting."

"Careful Sami," She giggled, "I think your eagerness is showing." Not a smart thing to say when you're being dragged along in a forest. I hit her against a tree again and chuckled when I heard her thunk into it. "Not funny." She coughed. I laughed anyway. We parted through the last couple of bushes and stepped onto the sandy beach again. Sonic was standing a few feet away, staring up at the clouds and tapping his foot impatiently. I released Keily's arm and walked over to him, feeling a little sheepish after leaving my hero all by his lonesome on a deserted beach. Sonic fangirls would have had my head for this if they ever found out.

"Sorry about that." I said in a respectful tone. The last thing I wanted to do was upset him. He turned his head slightly to look at me and smiled.

"Hey, it's cool. No problem. I see you two have figured everything out. So I guess my work here is done." I nodded and tired to smile.

"I guess it is." I honestly didn't want him to go, but I knew there was no way to slowdown a super fast guy like him. He was always on the run. He chuckled at, what I guessed to be my reaction and gave me a wink.

"Don't look so sad Sami; I'm not going anywhere just yet." I felt my face get a little bit hopeful, when of course Keily had to ruin the moment by clearing her throat. I knew what she wanted me to do.

"Oh Sonic, this is my friend Keily. Keily, this is Sonic." Keily was next to me in an instant, ready to shake his hand. He put it out for her just as he had for me.

"Pleasure to meet 'cha." He smiled.

"The pleasures all mine!" I giggled a little at her response. At least I wasn't the only one who had said it when shaking his hand.

"Ok girls; let me get a little serious here for a second." Sonic had let go of Keily's hand and placed them both crisscrossed on his chest again. "I want to remind you both of the rules for swimming around here." Keily wore a confused look as she glanced in my direction. Oh shoot! I had forgotten to tell her the cover story to why we were out here. "Keily," Sonic caught her attention, "Never swim out in these waters without some sort of floaty or lifejacket. Its dangerous and you should have already known that."

"Actually," Keily stopped him before he could finish, "Sami and I have never been to this area, so we didn't know." For not knowing the cover story, she was pretty good at covering. Sonic looked surprised at her response.

"Your both not from around here?" We shook our heads a little embarrassed. Could he seriously not tell? "What are you guys doing here then?" Great, here comes more lies. Keily chimed in before I could.

"We're on vacation." That wasn't that bad of a lie. Kinda true if you minus the whole abducted thing out of the equation.

"Nice choice on a vacation spot." Sonic chuckled, "Where are you staying?" Crap. We hadn't thought that far ahead.

"Um… we haven't decided yet?" I nervously scratched the back of my head. Sonic winced a little at the remark.

"You guys do know that it's kinda impossible to get a hotel room around here without a reservation right?" Oh yeah, of course it was. It always was with our luck.

"What are we gonna do then Keily?" I sighed and looked over at my friend.

"I say we crack out the sleeping bags!" She jumped up in the air with excitement. I, on the other hand smacked my palm against my forehead again.

"I actually have a better solution." Sonic whipped out his cell phone and began dialing a number. Keily turned to me and whispered something into my ear.

"Sonic has a cell phone?" I couldn't help but giggle.

"Hey Cream," Sonic interrupted our little conversation, and started one of his own with a little rabbit that I always found adorable! "Do you think you could hand the phone to your mom for me? I need to ask her a question. Thanks." I wished more than ever to be the one talking to Cream, but Sonic continued as Keily and I sat and listened. "Hey Vanilla," Sonic greeted her, "I was wondering, do you think Chris and the family would mind if we had a few more guests stay with us while the whole family was on vacation? Great! Thanks a lot! Bye." Sonic hung up and turned to us with a big smile on his face. "So you guys, how 'bout it? Wanna crash at the Thorndike residence with me and the gang?" I didn't know about Keily, but I was in total shock. What has just happened? Did that seriously just happen?

"Yes we would love to!" Keily burst out for me. Sonic simply smiled and gave us a thumbs up.

"Let's go then." He was beside me in an instant and offered me his hand. It reminded me of my dream again, but this time I was glad it did. I took hold of it without a second thought and smiled at Keily who had hold of his other hand. I couldn't believe this. A few hours ago, Keily and I were prisoners to the evil Dr. Eggman and Shadow. Now we were about to head on our way, with Sonic the Hedgehog, to stay at the same house he and his friends shared. Not only would Keily and I be safe if Shadow came after us again, but we would also be having the time of our lives! "Hold on tight." Sonic smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back. He was being so nice. The world suddenly blurred together in a stream of colors as Sonic ran through the forest with us both gripped in each hand. This felt familiar. Was this the same speed I couldn't control back on the Eggcarrier? I think it was. They felt almost exactly the same… Sami, I thought to myself, stop thinking about that now. Just enjoy yourself with Sonic and Keily. You know this adventure has just begun, so don't ware yourself out just yet by thinking about it. The green colors changed to blue, then to grey in a second. We must have passed the city. "See those mountains over there?" Sonic asked, nodding his head toward some green hills with a large building at the valley between them, "Don't ever go over there. Dr. Eggman lives there and he has been pretty active lately. I don't want you two to get caught up in any mess he may have going on. He's very dangerous." I felt myself sigh deeply. The sad thing was that we had already been sucked in so deep.

"I bet he is." Was the only response I could think of. Keily sighed and mumbled something to herself. I was pretty sure I knew what she said.

"Believe us Sonic, we know."


End file.
